Books in Brief: The Dodgers Move West

The Dodgers Move West, by Neil J. Sullivan (Oxford, 252 pp., $17.95)

Neil J. Sullivan, an assistant professor of administration at Baruch College in New York City, explains why the Dodgers left Brooklyn for the West Coast, and disposes of what he calls the Walter O’Malley Devil Theory. The facts are simple: New York City officials—led by Robert Moses, czar of parks, highways, and urban development—refused to accommodate Dodger owner O’Malley, who wanted them to use federal aid to acquire land in Brooklyn for a new stadium. O’Malley wanted to buy the land, not lease it, but he knew he could only do so from the city; Charles Ebbets had had a difficult enough time assembling property privately for the Dodgers’ home nearly a half-century before. The city instead countered with the offer of a new municipal stadium. O’Malley would have no part of it, and packed up and moved his team to Los Angeles, whose officials saw no problem in rewriting a few laws in order to sell him Chavez Ravine. In telling the story of the infamous move, Sullivan does not neglect the history of the team, from the days of Zack Wheat and Casey Stengel through the era of Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson. But his most extraordinary work is in his final chapter, a startling attack on using public finance, particularly tax-exempt bonds, to build municipal stadiums. He concludes that “the municipal stadium is a most pernicious form of welfare awarded to millionaire sports owners. Perhaps now that a sufficient number of cities have been burned by franchise relocation, they will discover that a saner public policy is to tell teams they are welcome only if they build their own stadiums.” The investment, he reasons, would not only tie them to a community, but would also lead to smaller and better ball parks, instead of today’s “multipurpose monstrosities.” There would be fewer “frivolous” moves, and “in smaller settings, baseball could recover its more appropriate function as entertainment, and its financial base could be strengthened by owners who are serious about the game and disciplined by market forces.” joe mysak

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Joe Mysak

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The Dodgers Move West, by Neil J. Sullivan (Oxford, 252 pp., $17.95)

Neil J. Sullivan, an assistant professor of administration at Baruch College in New York City, explains why the Dodgers left Brooklyn for the West Coast, and disposes of what he calls the Walter O’Malley Devil Theory. The facts are simple: New York City officials—led by Robert Moses, czar of parks, highways, and urban development—refused to accommodate Dodger owner O’Malley, who wanted them to use federal aid to acquire land in Brooklyn for a new stadium. O’Malley wanted to buy the land, not lease it, but he knew he could only do so from the city; Charles Ebbets had had a difficult enough time assembling property privately for the Dodgers’ home nearly a half-century before. The city instead countered with the offer of a new municipal stadium. O’Malley would have no part of it, and packed up and moved his team to Los Angeles, whose officials saw no problem in rewriting a few laws in order to sell him Chavez Ravine. In telling the story of the infamous move, Sullivan does not neglect the history of the team, from the days of Zack Wheat and Casey Stengel through the era of Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson. But his most extraordinary work is in his final chapter, a startling attack on using public finance, particularly tax-exempt bonds, to build municipal stadiums. He concludes that “the municipal stadium is a most pernicious form of welfare awarded to millionaire sports owners. Perhaps now that a sufficient number of cities have been burned by franchise relocation, they will discover that a saner public policy is to tell teams they are welcome only if they build their own stadiums.” The investment, he reasons, would not only tie them to a community, but would also lead to smaller and better ball parks, instead of today’s “multipurpose monstrosities.” There would be fewer “frivolous” moves, and “in smaller settings, baseball could recover its more appropriate function as entertainment, and its financial base could be strengthened by owners who are serious about the game and disciplined by market forces.” joe mysak